New veterans endure transition after combat

Jason Bunce, 31, of Jacksonville is a medically retired Marine staff sergeant who retired after 11 years of active-duty service. Bunce had 6 combat tours in his 11 years, serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

John Sudbrink / The Daily News

By THOMAS BRENNAN Daily News Staff

Published: Monday, November 11, 2013 at 08:00 AM.

Making the transition from active duty to veteran status is a challenge — and Jason Bunce said none of that transition is easy.

“Either you’re in the right mindset or you let it get the best of you. It’s tough out there when you lose everything you know and love,” said the Marine veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan. “I don’t think there is an easy part of transitioning.”

For more than a decade, Bunce, 31, of Jacksonville defined himself as a Marine. But after an improvised explosive device destroyed his vehicle in Afghanistan in 2010, he was left with multiple back problems, including fractured vertebrae. His injuries forced him into medical retirement in March — something he wasn’t planning on for another eight years.

“For me, it sucked getting out because I wasn’t done yet; but it is what it is,” he said. “As a Christian, I had to accept the plan that God had for me. Telling myself that he had a plan was all it took for me to get through the transition process.”

Redefining himself isn’t impossible, he said, but does take time. Having applied for more than two jobs per week, he has sent in more than 65 applications since he transitioned.

He recently was hired by the Department of Veterans Affairs in Florida to work as a medical administrator, transferring paper claims to digital formats.

Making the transition from active duty to veteran status is a challenge — and Jason Bunce said none of that transition is easy.

“Either you’re in the right mindset or you let it get the best of you. It’s tough out there when you lose everything you know and love,” said the Marine veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan. “I don’t think there is an easy part of transitioning.”

For more than a decade, Bunce, 31, of Jacksonville defined himself as a Marine. But after an improvised explosive device destroyed his vehicle in Afghanistan in 2010, he was left with multiple back problems, including fractured vertebrae. His injuries forced him into medical retirement in March — something he wasn’t planning on for another eight years.

“For me, it sucked getting out because I wasn’t done yet; but it is what it is,” he said. “As a Christian, I had to accept the plan that God had for me. Telling myself that he had a plan was all it took for me to get through the transition process.”

Redefining himself isn’t impossible, he said, but does take time. Having applied for more than two jobs per week, he has sent in more than 65 applications since he transitioned.

He recently was hired by the Department of Veterans Affairs in Florida to work as a medical administrator, transferring paper claims to digital formats.

“The one thing that bothers me is someone saying they understand what I’ve been through when they haven’t been where I’ve been,” he said. “You’ll never be able to relate to what I’ve been through unless you’ve worn a uniform.”

Family, according to Bunce, has made transitioning easier because it has given him a support network.

“The hardest part of transitioning has been adjusting to a lowered income,” he said. “The bills don’t stop coming just because you got out of the military.”

Bunce said he still misses the Marine Corps. For him, putting on the uniform made him feel as though he was doing something for the greater good.

Grant Beck, commander of the Military Order of the Purple Heart in Jacksonville, said what Bunce is going through is common for transitioning service members. Beck said the military is not doing enough to instill pride in transitioning and becoming a veteran.

“Someone — especially in combat arms who has survived a lot of stress and adrenaline — when they come back and are transitioning into an unstructured, laid-back, less-intense environment, they aren't used to it,” Beck said.

Resources are available to veterans include the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Military Order of the Purple Heart, among others, Beck said. Finding the camaraderie that was lost is important to surviving in the civilian world, he said. And it takes time.

“If you come home from a deployment and immediately transition to the civilian world within a few months, you haven't had a chance to decompress,” Beck said. “You transition with a different set of issues than civilians are used to, especially if you are wounded.”

And you have a different mindset, according to Bunce.

“For those who never served, I think they take things in life for granted,” Bunce said. “They got to wake up in their bed for the last 12 years we’ve been at war. They get to kiss their wife or husband good morning. We … go overseas for seven months at a time and wonder if we are coming home in a pine box.”

Having only been out of the Corps for a few months, Bunce said being a veteran hasn’t sunk in yet.

“The active-duty population gets a lot of support, but I think we ignore our veterans,” he said. “This country may say they support their veterans, but I think it’s a bandwagon.

“Veterans Day should be every day — not just one day per year,” Bunce added. “They deserve more than a day.”

For organizations like Semper Fi Fund, which helps wounded, ill and injured service members, it is difficult to reach everyone and ensure they have the right resources before they get out, said Lisa Killeen, a veteran case manager with the fund.

“Service members in general … are given resources when they get out … but some may forget those resources and not know where to go for help,” Killeen said. “Navigating the Department of Veterans Affairs can also cause some issues. They may not know what their entitlements are.”

Service members, Killeen said, need to advocate for themselves by being self-motivating and asking the difficult questions. Transitions are discouraging, she said, but knowing where to find help makes the process easier.

The first source of support: other service members, she said.

“You need to ask questions and find out what the VA and the VA's vet center have to offer,” Killeen said.

For Bunce, having civilians thank veterans for serving is appreciated but not a requirement.

“But if they don’t say it, then it’s not that big of a deal,” Bunce said. “It’s appreciated no matter what way you say it but it is kind of overplayed in our culture right now.”

And while transitioning hasn’t been easy, Bunce said he will succeed at it, thanks to the tenets he learned in the Corps.

“Even though I haven’t quite figured out what Veterans Day means to me now that I am a veteran, it doesn’t mean I’m not proud of what I’ve done,” Bunce said. “Whether you disagree with why we fight our wars or not, you should at least take a moment of silence for those who did. I know I will — not for myself but for everybody else.”